Ask for antibiotics before surgery

Overprescribing is not the only problem with antibiotic treatment; sometimes the drugs are administered improperly, particularly before a major surgery. Infectious-disease experts have long recommended giving patients a preventive antibiotic during the 60 minutes before the initial incision, to reduce the risk of potentially deadly infections. But surgeons followed that advice in only about half of cases, according to a study in the February issue of Archives of Surgery, involving more than 34,000 patients. If you’re about to go under the knife, make sure you receive a timely dose of an antibiotic.